Blog

INpact is hosting an open house and poster session event June 9, 2011 from 4 – 6 p.m. at Biologics Modular in Brownsburg, Ind.

The session will serve as a forum for member companies, including Bingham Greenebaum Doll, to showcase their capabilities in advancing Indiana's medical device movement. For details, see the press release below. To RSVP, email info@inpact.org or call ...

The trademark process is complicated, but when the trademark itself includes a city name, it can take on an even greater level of complexity. Entrepreneurs Brad and Sandy Smith decided they were ready to take advantage of yet another business opportunity in their small community – the potential to reinvigorate a historical food staple in southwestern Indiana. They also realized that it would be of utmost importance to protect their long-time company name: Tell City Pretzels.

Does your business lease real or personal property? Or perhaps you are in the business of leasing property to others? A Joint Exposure Draft (Draft) proposes a new accounting standard that may impact your business. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) created the Draft to standardize the way lease liabilities are accounted for on balance sheets.

With social media growing at unprecedented rates, more and more media users are turning to Twitter to quickly express themselves in 140 characters or less. But with such short thoughts, the question is raised: does a tweeter have a copyright on his tweets?

This has become an issue for Adorian Deck who started tweeting under the identity of @OMGFacts about celebrity gossip. With more than ...

Many individuals and startup businesses face a similar problem: they have an idea and need capital to further explore that idea, but their bank accounts, credit cards, and close friends and family are not sufficient or unwilling to fund the idea’s initial development. Now, there is the possibility of becoming eligible for an SBA loan, but those have become increasingly difficult to ...

Will your business be responsible for screening potential employees’ immigration status? Under a new state law, employers may be required to use an online software program to screen employees in order for their business to qualify for government contracts or grants. On May 10, Governor Daniels signed Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 590 (SEA 590) into law, which becomes effective July 1, and will have many employers using E-Verify to flag unauthorized aliens among their pool of potential employees. Under SEA 590, failing to maintain a legal workforce could now come at a cost to many Hoosier businesses.

A recent decision from the United States Supreme Court, which effectively overrules a recent decision from the Kentucky Supreme Court, will likely change class action litigation for years to come. Many companies are now drafting and inserting “Class Action Waiver” provisions into agreements with customers and employees. A Class Action Waiver, coupled with an arbitration ...

A recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina provided a rare glimpse into the potential pitfalls of maintaining eligibility for the Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (BFPP) defense to liability under Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. When buying contaminated land, purchasers must be aware ...

A California woman recently sued Taco Bell to stop it from saying that the filling for many of its tacos and burritos is “seasoned beef.” She asserted it had too little actual beef to be labeled as such. Very soon after filing her lawsuit, though, she voluntarily agreed to dismiss it. She did so without being paid any money by Taco Bell, and without forcing the company to make any changes to its products, ingredients or advertising. This was certainly a very favorable result for Taco Bell – not only because of the result, but also because of the avoidance of expensive protracted litigation.

On May 16, 2011, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson signed a final rule delaying the effective date of the major source national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants from new and existing industrial, commercial, and institutional boilers as published on March 21, 2011. The same rule also delays the effective date of the amendments to the new ...

Believe it or not, the gift and estate tax laws are back on the legislative radar again.

As you may know from our seminars earlier this year in Louisville, Lexington and Pikeville, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 made significant changes in December 2010 to the Estate, Gift and Generation Skipping Transfer (GST) Tax laws. Overall ...

The IRS has a new project focused on higher education 403(b) retirement plans. The IRS wants to know whether higher education 403(b) plans are complying with the universal availability requirements and the written plan document requirements of 403(b). How will the IRS determine whether plans are compliant? They are going to ask with a mandatory questionnaire. 4

Do you own an iPhone? If so, it may be possible for opposing parties, competitors, ex-spouses, or even the government to obtain information about where you were on a given date and time. This is possible because, ever since GPS-enabled iPhones were available to the general public, the Apple iOS (operating system) has been storing your unsecured location history. In fact, this ...

Today’s fast-paced and diversified business world is seeing a rise of equipped, capable and assertive multicultural groups and individuals take the helm and lead their businesses to success. One of the key factors playing a role in this success? Networking – in all its many forms. I recently had the privilege of speaking to two premier business/networking organizations in ...

You can hardly open a newspaper or magazine, or read a current events website or blog, these days without reading about how public pensions and other government benefits are going to bankrupt our nation’s governments. While I believe the facts cited and the conclusions drawn in many of these reports are often exaggerated, I know that there is more to the story than what is typically ...

On Wednesday, April 27, Bingham Greenebaum Doll’s Labor and Employment Practice Group (LEPG) presented Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Issues Surrounding Employee Termination as part of its regular Lunch and Learn Series. The presentation dealt with the employee termination process. Attendees and LEPG members engaged in an interactive discussion about making the decision to ...

Court approves waiver of the statute of limitations period in an employment applicationThe Kentucky Civil Rights Act (KCRA) has a five-year statute of limitations. That means an employee terminated in 2011 may still be permitted to bring a KCRA claim against the employer in 2016. A recent ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Dunn v. Gordon Food Services, provides a way for employers to significantly shorten that time period. The court ruled that an employer may include in an employment application a provision that significantly shortens the statute of limitations period for the employee to bring a claim against his or her employer.

The Special Needs Trust (SNT) allows an individual who has received funds from an accident or from some type of injury to have use of those funds for the individual’s special needs (which can be quite broad) while still being eligible for government benefits, such as Medicaid. If the individual simply received the recovery outright, he or she would not be eligible to receive many government benefits until the entire recovery had been spent.